


Take It Easy

by sushigal007



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen, Humor, Illustrated, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-17
Updated: 2016-10-17
Packaged: 2018-08-22 23:23:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 18,891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8305288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sushigal007/pseuds/sushigal007
Summary: "Go to Earth, they said. It'll be easy, they said." They were wrong. For my daughter, Blue, newly-qualified Peridot's been given her first mission. And she's determined to complete it, or die trying. Unfortunately, that's a very real possibility. Cross-posted from FF.net.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Illustrated

"-Two hundred Topaz technicians to Skaro to begin preliminary work on the kindergartens." Calcite Facet-5R1R Cut-8ZR scrolled down the page on the floating touchscreen in front of her. "Then we need an Amethyst squadron dispatched to Dulkis. Apparently our information was slightly out of date and the dominant species there has learned to fight back. The main kindergarten on Metebelis Three is now complete and will need a full staff of Peridots…"

Jade Facet-7G6T Cut-4RF zoned out slightly as the list of missions droned on. Almost on autopilot, she sent messages to the relevant facets, ordering them to prepare warp pads and Emerald Hands as required. There were weapons to order, tools to assign, advanced limb enhancers to fit. Conquering the known galaxies required a lot of boring organisation and grunt work. Unfortunately, boring organisation and grunt work was her job.

"-And finally," Calcite concluded, "Yellow Diamond wants a gem sent to Sol-3 to check on the progress of the Cluster."

Jade paused and looked up. "Which gem?"

Calcite shrugged. "She didn't say. Just that they needed to be kindergarten certified. I was thinking maybe an Agate-"

Jade snorted. "For Sol-3? _Earth_? That muddy little ditch?"

"There was a war there," the other gem said defensively.

"There are wars everywhere. That's how we conquer planets. Anyway, it was like, a billion years ago."

"It was only a couple of thousand years ago and it might still be dangerous!"

Jade shook her head. "That place has been dead forever, there's nothing there. You know what will happen if I send an Agate to do this job? They go, they'll come back half an hour later, find me, and punch me in the face for wasting their time. It's an easy job, a Pearl could do it."

The two gems snorted with laughter at that. "Imagine if you sent _Yellow Pearl_!"

There was no work done for the next few minutes as the pair rolled on the floor, laughing until they hurt.

"OK, but seriously, you don't need an Agate for Earth," Jade said eventually, climbing back on to her gravity connectors and wiping away the tears.

"All right, how about a Peridot?" Calcite suggested. "Even with these missions, there's still a bunch from the new batch unassigned."

"Sure," Jade agreed. "And hey, why not suggest sending a Red Eye first? Just in case?"

xXxXx

Peridot Facet-5Z3P Cut-6YT ran her gaze over the list of assignments. It was the usual stuff; Peridots were needed to run kindergartens in new colonies. Peridots were needed to replace staff at existing colonies, with the older staff returning for rest, retraining and occasionally recycling. Peridots were needed to carry out maintenance tasks across the Empire. A Peridot was needed to go to Earth-"

She paused and reread that last statement. Huh. This was new. Nobody had set gravity connectors on Earth for centuries, and for good reason. It was damp, hostile and totally unsuitable for colonisation, which was why it had been abandoned and forgotten. She certainly wouldn't dream of going there herself. Happily there was a batch of newly qualified Peridots eager and ready for their first assignments and it shouldn't be too difficult to hype this task up and fob it off on one of them. She brought up a list of their names and scanned through it.

Peridot Facet-1L4D Cut-7RR? She was the smartest in the class… and unfortunately, she knew it. She'd despise the assignment! Peridot allowed herself a moment to imagine Facet-1L4D Cut-7RR arriving on Earth and promptly stepping into a smelly puddle and grinned at the thought. Then she sighed. The gem was a snooty know-it-all and watching her get organic ooze all over herself was an entertaining thought, but she had to admit, she would be wasted on Earth. She was promising enough for somewhere like Metebelis 3 or Astra. No, she'd keep Facet-1L4D Cut-7RR waiting for a little longer to see if her attitude improved and then send her somewhere where her skills would be put to better use.

How about Peridot Facet-9K5V Cut-4GH? She wasn't as smart as Facet-1L4D Cut-7RR, and happy to follow orders. No initiative though. Earth was now an unknown area and she had the feeling Facet-9K5V Cut-4GH wouldn't know where to even begin the necessary research required for such a mission. Plus she talked too much.

Peridot Facet-3M3N Cut-2TT? Dear stars, _no_. The gem was denser than dirt. She'd probably vaporise herself with her own limb enhancers. It was a small miracle she'd made it through basic training and Peridot didn't see a long and successful future ahead of her. No, what she needed was a gem who was smart enough to figure out how to get the old technology working, loyal enough to not ask too many questions and desperate to prove themselves. And if the worst were to happen, someone… expendable.

She read down the list a little more until her gaze fell upon the name Peridot Facet-2F5L Cut-5XG. Perfect.

xXxXx

"Earth?"

"It's a very important mission," the elder Peridot said solemnly. "The details are highly classified. Yellow Diamond wants someone to check on the progress of the Cluster. You were personally chosen for the job." Admittedly not by Yellow Diamond, but she wasn't about to mention that.

The younger Peridot swallowed hard. "But… surely this is a job for a higher-qualified gem?"

"Don't put yourself down. You're a hard-working, dedicated and thorough gem. You can do this."

The little Peridot bit her lip and nodded apprehensively. "Alone though?"

"Don't worry, it'll be easy," the other Peridot reassured her. "The planet's been abandoned for thousands of years. All you have to do is repair the warp pads, go to the main kindergarten, check the records and come back. Yellow Diamond will be very impressed with you," she added for emphasis.

Peridot Facet-2F5L Cut-5XG sat up straighter and nodded firmly. "Very well. I won't let Yellow Diamond down!"

"Good." Peridot Facet-5Z3P Cut-6YT smiled coldly down at the other gem. "I'm sending you the mission files now. I suggest you begin your research and begin getting fitted for a set of advanced limb enhancers…"

xXxXx

There were only around thirty warp sites left on Earth, so Peridot Facet-2F5L Cut-5XG decided to play it safe and program the Red Eye to visit them all. The first few results were promising; the sites were abandoned and the indigenous population appeared to shun them. High-quality images of the kindergartens and warp hub were transmitted to her work station; she planned to examine them later to work out what repairs would be needed.

And then came the feedback that one of the warp pads was stationed beside a human settlement. Peridot considered this information for a moment. The records regarding humanity were woefully outdated. They were definitely past the whole 'fighting with sharp sticks' stage of development; satellite debris and atmospheric pollution the Red Eye had encountered during its trip was a sure sign that there had been significant technological advances in recent years. With that in mind, it would probably be prudent to take a closer look at the area.

Unfortunately, she suddenly lost contact with the Red Eye before any further information could be received. She frowned and sat back in her hover chair. It wasn't unusual for Red Eyes to be destroyed – they'd lost thousands during the takeover of Skaro. But it was worrying. For a moment, she contemplated running to Peridot Facet-5Z3P Cut-6YT for advice.

 _"_ _Yellow Diamond wants someone to check on the progress of the Cluster. You were personally chosen for the job."_

No. Everything would be fine. She wouldn't be required to visit that particular warp site anyway. The warp hub and kindergartens were abandoned. No gems had been reported on the planet. And she'd have advanced limb enhancers. Ones with weapons. It would be easy.

xXxXx

The next few planetary rotations were busy for Peridot. She poured over the images the Red Eye had managed to transmit back and tried to work out just how much work would be needed to get the necessary sites up and running. She located blueprints for the aged technology and tried to educate herself on their operation. She requested (and was denied) access to more details on the Cluster project. She read up all the information she could find about the planet and was irritated to find much of it classified. She put in a request for around 80 flask robonoids. Then she thought about the destruction of the Red Eye and put in an addition request for an EMP bomb. After all, it wouldn't do for humans to get hold of active gem tech. Then she exchanged her basic limb enhancers for an advanced set.

Then she went for a long, slow walk in order to show them off.

"Why did they give you those? You're only going to Earth, not Exxilon," Peridot Facet-1L4D Cut-7RR said snidely.

"You're just jealous," Peridot said smugly. "I'm doing a _very_ important mission for Yellow Diamond and you're cleaning injector drills."

The other Peridot flushed angrily. "I'm not jealous," she muttered. To be fair, that was at least half-true. "Earth is disgusting. And I'll bet they're just sending you because no-one else would do it. And when I go to Astra, I'll get given better limb enhancers"

"Maybe," Peridot retorted, "but right now, can your limb enhancers do this?" And with that, she helicoptered away with a triumphant laugh.

xXxXx

Peridot hopped from one leg to the other in anticipation. Her readout showed that 57 robonoids had landed on Earth and were currently on route to the warp hub. She had been pleasantly surprised at how many domestic warp pads were actually functioning, it meant that the orbs would be able to proceed directly to the main warp hub without having to waste resources repairing more warp pads to get there.

A few minutes later, she received confirmation that the final 22 robonoids had arrived and repairs to the warp pad were well underway. And then came the signal showing that the warp was online.

"Yes!" Peridot squeaked with excitement. Then she took a deep breath and composed herself. After all, Yellow Diamond wouldn't be very impressed if she received a report full of squeals and giggles. She stepped forward onto the warp pad and bounced experimentally on the balls of her gravity connectors. And then she was off to Earth.

The journey was over in a flash. She glanced around at the Earth warp hub, noting the many broken offworld pads. It fascinated her to think that some of the planets they'd been connected to no longer even existed. This place was that _ancient_. And yet… she tapped the pad gently with her gravity connector before carrying out a quick maintenance check. The robonoids had done a stellar job-

Mid-report, something touched her gravity connector and she paused. Ah. _Most_ of the robonoids had done a stellar job. She idly wondered what had happened to damage this one; robonoids were made to stand the extreme stresses of interstellar travel and it was extremely unusual for them to get damaged like this one was. It must have been defective, she decided. She narrowed her vision spheres at it as it rolled around her legs, disgorging repair matrix, and then raising one gravity connector, she carefully applied pressure until it burst.

"Now to access the domestic warp," she reported as she walked down the stairs. Then she caught sight of something in the corner of her vision sphere and paused again. "Huh," she muttered, squatting down to get a closer look at the strange icon affixed to the side of the warp pad. "Huh!"

This was new. She'd obsessed over the warp hub images the Red Eye had sent to her. It had been essential in order to calculate how many robonoids would be needed for repairs, and she was quite certain this icon hadn't been there then.

Suddenly spooked, she cast a quick glance around the nearby area. Her enhanced vision picked up several other bizarre icons affixed to the other warp pads that definitely hadn't been there before either.

And there was new debris by an old pillar.

And one of the robonoids had been damaged.

And the Red Eye had been destroyed.

And she was suddenly very aware that she was alone and far from home and had absolutely no idea how to actually use the weaponry installed in her advanced limb enhancers.

"This site may have been compromised," she said aloud before reaching into her gem for the EMP bomb and quickly climbing back onto the warp pad for the return trip.

xXxXx

She regretted it almost as soon as she'd left Earth. So what if there was an alien image attached to the warp pad? There obviously wasn't anyone there now. It would've taken next to no time at all to warp to the kindergarten, gather the information she needed and come home to admiration and praise from Yellow Diamond. Now instead of a flawless report, she had a nice recording of herself running away from nothing.

Of course, she would have to go back immediately.

At least, that had been the plan until she stepped onto the warp pad and discovered it was now offline.

A cold feeling crept over her. The only way the warp pad could be down already is if it had been destroyed, quite literally as soon as she'd left. _Someone was there, watching me,_ she realised.

Suddenly she didn't regret abandoning the mission quite so much.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Planet names are all from Doctor Who, because it amuses me to think of Homeworld battling Daleks, Cybermen, giant spiders and people who defeated invaders by dropping rocks on their robots. Especially when the latter are the ones they're having the most trouble with right now.
> 
> This is another FF.net cross-post and the picture is the cover art I drew for it.


	2. Chapter 2

"Did you hear about Peridot Facet-1L4D Cut-7RR?"

Peridot opened her mouth to declare that she was far too busy to care about idle chit-chat, then closed it again on account of the fact that it would be a great big fat lie. "What about Facet-1L4D Cut-7RR?" she asked instead.

Peridot Facet-9K5V Cut-4GH grinned widely. "You know she thought she might be part of the Astra mission, right?"

"Yeah?" Peridot replied.

"Well," the other Peridot said with obvious relish, "she didn't get in. And!" she added as Peridot opened her mouth to respond. "She went to Peridot Facet-5Z3P Cut-6YT to argue about it and _she_ said she wasn't ready yet because she wasn't a team player."

"Ooooooh!" Peridot winced.

"And then!" the other Peridot continued, obviously enjoying herself. "She asked why that mattered when _you_ were on a solo mission."

Peridot gasped in outrage. "I knew it! I knew she was jealous!"

"There's more!" She paused, waiting for her audience to fall silent. "Then… she complained about it to _Jade Facet-7G6T Cut-4RF_!"

"No!" Peridot raised a hand to her mouth in shock.

"Yes! Do you know what this means!?" the other Peridot squeaked.

Peridot thought for a second, running various punishment scenarios through her mind. Gross insubordination of this magnitude would surely call for something a bit harsher than limb shock, but she had to admit that Peridot Facet-1L4D Cut-7RR was too smart to be wasted with recycling, which left… "Retraining?" she guessed in a hushed whisper.

The other Peridot shook her head impatiently. "No! I mean, yeah, but more importantly, it means _I_ get her spot on the mission to Astra! Isn't that great?"

"Oh." Peridot blinked. "Uh. Congratulations?"

"Thanks." Peridot Facet-9K5V Cut-4GH smiled, then narrowed her vision spheres. "So anyway. Talking about your mission… how's that going?"

"I'm sorry, that's classified," Peridot said quickly. "In fact, I'm just on my way to discuss it with Peridot Facet-5Z3P Cut-6YT now, so you'll have to excuse me." She felt herself breaking out into a cold sweat: she didn't really want to talk to anyone about it right now, especially not her direct supervisor, who would no doubt have a lot to say about her recent trip to Earth.

xXxXx

"So. You went to Earth." Peridot Facet-5Z3P Cut-6YT gave her a benign smile. "How did it go?"

Peridot gulped. She knew perfectly well that the other gem had already listened to her report and was waiting for an explanation for her behaviour, but to be completely honest, she had no idea where to start. "W-well," she began nervously, "the flask robonoids arrived safely and were able to repair the warp pad."

She waited for a response. Peridot Facet-5Z3P Cut-6YT just continued to smile blandly at her. "Um, so, I arrived and found one of the robonoids had been damaged." That information hadn't actually been recorded in her log, so Peridot waited for some sort of reaction.

The other gem continued smiling silently.

_Don't panic._ "I was about to check the domestic warp when I found evidence to suggest that the site had been compromised." She just hoped the other gem wouldn't ask-

"What evidence would that be?"

"Uh." Peridot bit her lip. "Um, well, before the Red Eye was destroyed, I received images of the warp site. But when I visited it, these strange icons had been placed on many of the warp pads. And there was debris that wasn't in the images. It's my belief that some of the, um, humans? Humans had been there and damaged the site."

The other Peridot inhaled slowly and sat back on her hover chair. "Well, that's all very… circumstantial. Do you have any evidence that… hoomans… were actually present on the site during your visit?"

Peridot perked up slightly at this. "Yes! When I tried to return to Earth, the warp pad had been deactivated. The only way that could've happened so quickly is if somebody had been there and destroyed it when I left."

There was a moment of silence. Then the other Peridot frowned. "But you didn't have this evidence until after you'd returned."

"Uh… I thought… I heard something?" Peridot suggested feebly.

Her manager sighed and called up a screen. "So in summary, you have failed. I'll-"

"I have an alternative!" Peridot interrupted desperately. "The Red-"

" _Don't_ interrupt me again," the other gem interrupted coldly.

Peridot snapped her mouth shut so fast, she almost bit her tongue in half.

There was a long moment of awkward and uncomfortable silence before the elder Peridot spoke again. "So far, you have failed."

There was more silence.

"However," she finally continued, "I accept that there were… circumstances, and I would be interested to hear how you intend to fix your mistake."

Peridot hesitated for a moment, and then began to speak again. "The-the Red Eye, um, it sent back images of um, the kindergarten too. It doesn't look very badly damaged at all and I think if I um, sent a plug robonoid down to Earth, I could operate the controls remotely."

Silence.

"Um, and that's about it," she finished weakly.

After what felt like forever, the other Peridot nodded slowly. "I suppose that sounds feasible."

Peridot sagged with relief.

"I mean, if you're sure you're really up to it."

The relief was once again replaced with the more familiar gut-churning apprehension that was the background radiation of her life. "I can do it, I promise!" she said desperately. "I won't let Yellow Diamond down again!"

"Wellllllll…" The elder Peridot dragged out the word, clearly enjoying the power she held over the younger gem. "As you've already put a lot of work into this mission, I suppose it would be more efficient to allow you to continue." She narrowed her vision spheres at the other gem. "But I'm sure I don't need to tell you that there any many other Peridots who would be eager to take over, should they need to. And that as the details of this mission are highly classified…" She trailed off.

_Retraining_.

The word hung unspoken in the air. Peridot bit her lip again and tried not to think about Peridot Facet-1L4D Cut-7RR. "That won't be necessary. I can do it," she said, sounding far more confident than she felt.

"Very well," the elder gem finally relented.

Relief flooded through her once again.

"However…"

And back to apprehension.

"As your mission will not be taking you off Homeworld, you'll no longer be requiring your advanced limb enhancers, correct?"

"Uh…" She gulped. "Yes, I suppose that's logical." Sensing what was coming, she tried to inch towards the door. "I'll just go to my quarters and-"

"Now." The other gem smiled coldly.

Peridot lowered her head in resignation. "Yes. Of course. I'll hand them over now." Burning with humiliation, she fumbled with release mechanism for her upper limbs. _Don't cry,_ she told herself sternly. It could've been far worse. A little public humiliation was nothing, really. She hadn't even been shocked-

Before the thought had even finished crossing her mind, electricity coursed through her artificial limbs and she fell over with a scream of pain and surprise.

"Oopsie." Peridot Facet-5Z3P Cut-6YT closed her screen and smiled down at her subordinate. "Pressed the wrong button."

They both knew she was lying.

xXxXx

Limb enhancers were a standard tool among many of the smaller gems. They allowed gems access to records and reports stored in the central matrix, made communication quick and simple, and most importantly, created uniformity among the gem workforce. Peridot had never left her quarters without them before, and she felt horribly exposed. Which, she supposed, was the whole point.

Of course, it was just her luck that Peridot Facet-9K5V Cut-4GH was still loitering around outside their manager's office. The other gem's vision spheres lit up at the sight of her and she hurried over, clearly eager to get the details on this new bit of gossip. "Oh my stars, look at you, you're so _cute_!" she gushed. "Don't you look _adorable_!"

Peridot gritted her teeth and allowed herself a brief fantasy where the other Peridot's limb enhancers suddenly malfunctioned and forced her to walk repeatedly into a wall. "Excuse me," she muttered, sidestepping past the other gem. "I'm busy."

Peridot Facet-9K5V Cut-4GH ignored the hint and fell into step beside her. "So what happened?" she asked. "Did something go wrong with your mission?"

"It's classified," Peridot snapped. "You know it's classified, stop asking me questions about it or I'll have to report you."

The other Peridot stopped walking. "Fine, be that way," she snapped and turned away. "I was going to offer to walk with you to your quarters, you know," she called over her shoulder. "But now, I just hope you walk into a Jasper platoon!" she finished.

"And I hope you walk into an active volcano!" Peridot shouted after her. "Clod," she added under her breath.

Thankfully, she didn't run into a Jasper platoon. Unfortunately, she ran into a group of Topaz technicians, who all shrieked and gasped with fake moral outrage. She hurried past, trying to ignore the whispers and giggles, until she finally made it back to her quarters.

Once inside, she pulled her old limb enhancers out of central storage and held them close for a moment before putting them on. They might not have the flight and fight capabilities of the new ones, but they were safe and familiar, and in that moment, she vowed she'd never lose them again.

xXxXx

A few planetary rotations later, Peridot sat in a control room, calculating various routes for the plug robonoids. It was complicated work, made all the more difficult by the fact that somebody kept screaming outside. Screams were common on Homeworld and most of the time, Peridot was able to easily ignore them. Occasionally though, there would be that gem who was just a bit more loud and shrill than usual.

"-Estimated landing site of plug robonoid should place it in the vicinity of domestic warp-"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Peridot winced and waited for the noise to stop before continuing. "In the vicinity of domestic warp pad 2XH. The warp pad is situa-"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

"Situated in close proximity to-"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

"Oh for star's sake," she snapped, ending her report and jumping out of the hover chair. "Are they being recycled out there or something?" she grumbled under her breath as she stomped towards the door and peered out warily.

Halfway down the hallway, she spotted an Agate holding a gem destabiliser and standing among a jumble of Topaz and Peridot gems and limb enhancers. She bubbled the gems and then turned, freezing as she spotted the other gem watching her. "What are you looking at, mudbreath?" she snarled.

For a brief moment, Peridot wondered what had happened, then decided she was better off not knowing. "Nothing! Just checking to see if the noise was being dealt with. I'll get back to work now," she said, carefully backing away.

The Agate stared at her for a moment longer, then shrugged, turned away, and began to gather up the discarded limb enhancers. "You do that. It should be all quiet now."

Back inside the control room, Peridot waited a little while just to be sure the screaming had stopped, then opened her screen again. "Situated in close proximity to a human settlement. However, the reason I have chosen this site is because I feel it would be practical to know whether the humans are able to destroy the robonoid as they did the Red Eye." She paused for a moment to consider her phrasing. "Our current records on Earth are outdated. Any additional information we can gather will be of use to Yellow Diamond…"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 'Tis my headcanon that pretty much any gem in charge of other gems is allowed to dole out all sorts of nasty little punishments whenever they feel like it, and it's just a thing everyone accepts as normal, and the Diamonds like to keep it that way because if their subjects are all scared of each other, they won't think about joining forces with each other. I mean, let's face it, after Earth, there's no way the Diamond's are going to tolerate the slightest hint of insubordination. I mean, Yellow Diamond's first response to being called a clod was to turn the communicator into a bomb. She doesn't know Garnet threw that thing into orbit, she thinks Peridot's dead.


	3. Chapter 3

The robonoid went offline almost immediately after landing, but Peridot had fully expected that and immediately plotted a route for a second one that would place it in an uninhabited facet of the planet. When that one was destroyed too, she was a little more surprised. The surprise then turned to irritation when she lost contact with the third and fourth ones.

"Perhaps sending the first one into occupied Earth territory was a mistake?" Jade Facet-7G6T Cut-4RF suggested. "Put them on alert, perhaps?"

"They were already alerted after the Red Eye," Peridot objected. "That's not the problem, the problem is we don't know what they're capable of. That's why I sent it there."

Next to her, Peridot Facet-5Z3P Cut-6YT scrolled through pages of notes on her screen. "And you've been sending the others into unoccupied areas, is that correct?"

"Yes."

The elder Peridot gave her a look. "Are you _quite_ sure?" she asked in a patronising tone.

"Of course I'm sure!" Peridot replied, struggling to keep the annoyance out of her voice. "Look, the robonoids were all able to send back their co-ordinates before going offline, and every single one of them has landed less than three units from a warp pad."

"Hmm," Jade said in a non-committal tone. "So do you have a plan? I mean, other than repeatedly waste resources shooting robonoids at the planet until one gets through?"

Peridot flushed but stood up straighter. "Another robonoid is on route to Earth now, but if that one fails too, I'd like permission to send another Red Eye to gather further intelligence and to try and find another suitable landing site."

The other Peridot frowned and looked to her own manager for advice. "The hoomans have already shown they are capable of destroying our Red Eyes," she objected.

"They've only destroyed one," Jade pointed out. "We lost far more than that on Skaro. Of course, we'd prefer not to do that, if possible." She tapped on her screen for a moment. "I can authorise a further three plug robonoids. If they fail, we'll meet again and discuss what to do next."

Peridot nodded. "Thank you, ma'am." She began to inch backwards towards the door. "I'll head back to work now, the next robonoid is scheduled to enter lower Earth orbit shortly."

"Facet-2F5L Cut-5XG?"

"Y-yes?" Peridot paused and gave her manager a nervous look.

The other Peridot frowned at her. "I don't remember dismissing you yet."

Peridot sighed and stepped forward again. "My apolo-AAAAAH!"

The two gems impassively watched her twitch on the floor. "Don't remember punishing you for your continual failure either," the elder gem said sadly. She almost sounded convincing.

xXxXx

But then, it seemed like her luck was changing. The fifth robonoid had reached Earth intact and hadn't immediately gone offline. Tense with anticipation, Peridot hopped from one still-aching gravity connector to the other, absently chewing one of her touch stumps and intently watching her screen as progress reports continued to come in.

By the time the plug robonoid reached the kindergarten, she'd almost bitten the touch stump in half. She quickly spat it out and took a few deep breaths to try and compose herself before getting ready to begin the report.

Moments later, the robonoid activated the connection with the kindergarten control link and Peridot got her first live look at the Prime Kindergarten. Remembering what had happened at the warp hub, the first thing she did was cast a quick glance around the room, but she wasn't overly worried, the control room had been designed only to be accessible to those with access to gem tech.

Satisfied that the kindergarten was deserted, she pulled up her screen and started recording her log. "Established Gem Projection Link with control room. Plug Robonoid has successfully landed on Planet Earth and entered Prime Kindergarten Control Room in Facet Five." She tapped the screen a few times to begin establishing remote access to the manual controls. "Will proceed to perform status check of Kindergarten."

After all that had gone wrong so far, it was a relief to find that everything worked, but as she continued her work, the slow responses to her commands began to get a little frustrating. "Ugh, this Gem Tech is simply archaic," she muttered, turning away from the monitor to sync up the Earth controls to her own limb enhancers.

"I don't know, I think it looks pretty cool."

Peridot froze for a moment at the unexpected voice. Then she quickly cancelled the status check and turned back to the monitor only to see what was presumably a human standing right in the middle of the control room, grinning up at her.

"Hi, I'm Steven!" it said cheerfully.

Steven? Not a human then? She lowered the monitor to get a better look at it and frowned. "There appears to be an infestation of Stevens in the kindergarten," she carefully noted – if things went wrong again, she wanted the appearance of the Steven on record.

"I'm not so bad once you get to know me," it said, still grinning up at her.

"And how many more Stevens are present in this area?" she asked.

"Oh, just me," it replied.

"That's a relief," Peridot muttered. Hopefully one Steven (whatever _that_ was) wouldn't be too difficult to get rid of then. "So tell me, have Stevens replaced Humans as the dominant species on Earth?"

"Oh no, there's lots of humans." The Steven then began listing what she assumed must be human subspecies and she quickly lost interest. The important thing, she realised, was that the Steven was alone and apparently unarmed and once she got rid of it, she'd be able to carry on her work without interruption.

"-What are you doing?"

"Hm?" Peridot glanced at him and then picked up the controls again. "Just picking up where we left off." She turned away and raised a remote, giant fist to squish him… only to meet resistance. She whipped back to the monitor and gaped in astonishment at the scene below. Surely it couldn't be! "A gem!"

Her mouth dropped open even further as two more gems suddenly stepped into view. "Ah, more!? But the Red Eye didn't report the presence of any gems on this planet!"

"That's because we destroyed it!" cried a Pearl.

"You what?" Peridot stabbed at her screen in increasing confusion. "But the records say that gems were wiped out on Earth…" She paused as a nasty thought suddenly hit her. "Wait a minute…you're the ones that have been destroying my plug robonoids! Are you the reason the Homeworld warp is down again?" She called up an image of the mark she'd found on the warp pad and thrust it towards the monitor. "Is this your bizarre icon?"

Sabotage, that's what it was. Deliberate sabotage, and _she_ was the one being punished for it! She felt rage bubble up inside her at the injustice of it. "Why do you keep destroying my things!?"

"Because we are the Crystal Gems!" the Pearl cried, as if that was supposed to make sense. "We're still alive, and we're still the guardians of this planet and all its living creatures!"

Peridot just looked blankly at the Pearl. "Crystal Gems?" she repeated in confusion.

Without warning, the three gems suddenly began to attack the controls. "Stop! How dare you!" she shouted. "I'm doing this one way or another!" She lashed out at them, but the controls seemed to be responding a split second behind her commands, and the small Amethyst and the Pearl quickly managed to destroy one. "You're just… making it… really… difficult!" But despite her threat, there was nothing she could do except watch helplessly as the other gems shouted instructions at each other before sending the other control sailing through the air.

A moment later, she realised what they intended to do. "I'm reporting this!" she yelled. Then the monitor went dead as the power source was destroyed.

For several seconds, she could only stare at the blank monitor in shock. "No…" A sense of impending doom crept over her and she reached out and shook it hard. "No, no, no no no NO NO _NO_!"

No response.

She slumped back in her hover chair and glanced swiftly around the room. It was empty, which was great, because she planned on having a quick, quiet cry in private before she had to confess that she'd failed again. She whimpered quietly, drew her knees up to her chest and slumped back in her chair.

_Don't panic. Really, what's the worst that could happen?_

Her mind helpfully responded to that last thought by offering her a handy-dandy slideshow of all the horrible things that could happen to her. "Not helpful," she muttered to herself.

_Take a deep breath, calm down, think._

That was a little more helpful. She took a deep, shuddering breath and tried to collect her thoughts. OK, so the kindergarten was down now. Sabotaged by the Crystal Gems, whoever they were. Thank goodness she had that down on record. They'd admitted to destroying the Red Eye too-

She suddenly sat back up straighter, brought up her screen again and searched for "Crystal Gems."

_You do not have permission to access these records._

_You do not have permission to access these records._

_You do not have permission to access these records._

_You do not have permission to access these records._

_You do not have permission to access these records._

_You do not have permission to access these records._

_You do not have permission to access these records._

_You do not have permission to access these records._

_You do not have permission to access these records._

The words filled the screen until she aborted the search. She narrowed her eyes and leaned back in her chair again. So there was something about these gems in the records, but she wasn't allowed to know what. Maybe she could use that (lack of) information to defend herself? It was worth a try.

xXxXx

Peridot Facet-5Z3P Cut-6YT glanced up as Peridot entered her office, then looked back at her screen. "Hmm? Ah, yes, your Earth mission. Did that plug robonoid land safely?"

Peridot hesitated for a moment, then blurted out, "do you know who the Crystal Gems are?"

The other gem paused and look up, confused. "Excuse me?"

"The Crystal Gems," Peridot repeated. "Look."

She raised her screen and rapidly sped through the recording until the Pearl appeared. _"We are the Crystal Gems! We're still alive, and we're still the guardians of this planet and all its living creatures!"_

The other gem frowned and quickly tapped at her screen. "I… I don't know," she admitted eventually. "I don't have access to those records."

"Well, whoever they are, they're the ones responsible for everything that's gone wrong so far," Peridot said firmly. "Look."

She wound back the recording a little further. _"-Red Eye didn't report the presence of any gems on this planet!" "That's because we destroyed it!"_

Her manager narrowed her eyes thoughtfully. "I see…"

She tapped on her screen again, and Jade Facet-7G6T Cut-4RF's face suddenly appeared. "This is Jade Facet-7G6T Cut-4RF, how may I help you?"

"Peridot Facet-5Z3P Cut-6YT." She saluted. "I'm sorry to bother you, but there's been an issue with Peridot Facet-2F5L Cut-5XG's mission."

Jade sighed. "The robonoids?"

"Actually it's something else. Have you ever heard of the Crystal Gems?"

Jade blinked, clearly taken by surprise. "The who?"

"I'm sending over a copy of the report now." Peridot Facet-5Z3P Cut-6YT tapped her screen a few times.

_"_ _We are the Crystal Gems!"_

Jade looked even more surprised. "I've never heard of them. Hold on." She disappeared for a moment and then returned. "I don't have access to those files. I'll have to contact my supervisor."

Some time later, Peridot stood quietly at the edge of the room as half-a-dozen of her direct superiors argued at each other about the mystery gems. Nobody seemed to know anything, which made her feel a little better about not knowing anything either.

"-never heard-"

"-abandoned, surely?"

"-destroyed the Red Eye-"

The noise levels were reaching uncomfortable levels when the door opened again and a Jasper walked in. She clapped her hands and everyone fell silent. "All right," she said loudly. "Whose mission is this?"

There was a lot of whispering and suddenly Peridot found herself facing several touch stumps. "Oh. Ah! Yes, uh, that would be me," she said, quickly standing straighter.

The Jasper's mouth fell open slightly and then she started to laugh. "Really? _You_? All right, fine. You lot, buzz off!"

The other gems broke out into a chorus of loud arguing at that until Jasper clapped her hands again. "I said BUZZ OFF."

There was a lot of muttering and grumbling at that, but after a little glaring from Jasper, most of them left, leaving only the two Peridots. Jasper frowned at Peridot Facet-5Z3P Cut-6YT. "Why are you still here?"

"I'm her direct supervisor," she protested. "Also this is my office."

There was long silence.

"OK, fine, I'm going!" the elder Peridot finally snapped.

As soon as she'd gone, Jasper strode over to the door and glanced up and down the hallway to search for eavesdroppers. Then she touched the wall, bringing up a screen Peridot had never seen before, and touched a few buttons. "There. We're cloaked." She grabbed Peridot Facet-5Z3P Cut-6YT's hover chair and sat down in it. "There's been a slight change of plan," she began as the chair creaked in protest. "The presence of the Crystal Gems on Earth means that you will no longer be carrying out this mission alone. Instead, I will be escorting you there. You will report directly to me, understood?"

Peridot opened her mouth and squeaked. Jasper took as it as a yes and continued talking. "Begin by telling me what you saw in the kindergarten."

"Uh…" Peridot cleared her throat and tried to stop her knees from trembling. "Well, there were three-no, four…" She paused for a moment as she realised something. "Um, five-"

"How. Many?" Jasper interrupted with irritation.

"Three gems," Peridot quickly replied. "But one was a fusion. There was also a human."

Jasper waved a hand dismissively. "Forget the human. Tell me about the gems."

"Well, like I said, there was a fusion," Peridot began. "A Ruby and a Sapphire, I think. I'm not sure. Also an Amethyst and a Pearl."

"A mixed fusion and a Pearl?" Jasper looked thoughtful. "Was there another Quartz there at all? A Rose Quartz?"

Peridot shook her head. "I didn't see one."

"Are you sure?" Jasper persisted. If there were Crystal Gems on Earth, she knew they must have been protected, and Rose Quartz was the only gem she knew with that kind of power. "Think! Was she there!?"

Peridot shrank back as the other gem jumped to her feet and loomed over her. "I-I don't know! I didn't see anyone else! There wasn't a very wide field of vision and-"

Jasper sighed and sat back again. "It's OK. Don't worry about it, I'm not gonna hurt you," she added, catching sight of Peridot's terrified face. "So. You only saw three of them, yes?"

"Yes…" Peridot said slowly.

"But could there have been others there, out of sight?"

Peridot shrugged helplessly. "Yes?"

The two of them looked at each other for a moment, then Jasper sighed again. "Are you just saying that because you're scared of me?"

"Um." Peridot fidgeted. "No?"

"Ugh." Jasper tipped the hover chair back and glared at the ceiling for a moment, then sat back upright again. "Look, I mean it. I'm not going to zap you or destabilise you or put you in a hard light chamber and pull your limbs off if you don't say the right thing. That's petty office management stuff. It's not my style." She grinned slightly. "I'd just crush your face with my bare hands…" She trailed off. "That's not helping, is it?"

"Not particularly," Peridot said neutrally. "But I appreciate the effort."

Jasper let out a bark of laughter. "Let's move on. You saw three of them. Then what?"

Peridot shrugged again. "Then they destroyed the kindergarten controls. That's about it. Can I… ask a question?" she added hesitantly.

"Go ahead. I'm not promising I'll answer it though."

"Who exactly _are_ the Crystal Gems?"

Jasper looked at her for a moment and then began laughing. "Oh, right! I completely forgot!" She composed herself and grinned widely at the other gem. "So, you wanna know about the Crystal Gems?"

"Um." Peridot thought about it for a moment. "Yes?"

"It's _very_ classified," Jasper warned. "If you even _think_ about telling anyone, forget retraining." She gave the other gem a menacing grin. "I'll just yank it out of your mind with my own bare hands. And don't worry about them," she added as Peridot glanced towards the door. "I'll deactivate their punishment privileges and let them know not to ask any questions. Yellow Diamond is _very_ clear that this information is not to become public knowledge."

Peridot gulped but stood up as straight as she could. "I understand. But I need to know more about these gems if I'm going to complete my mission."

Jasper nodded slowly. "All right." She tapped the screen again and brought up an image of the Earth. "The Crystal Gems are traitors. You probably know that Homeworld tried to colonise Earth, right?"

"Yes." That little bit of information at least was something she knew. "It was abandoned because the conditions were unsuitable for gems-"

"It was abandoned because the Crystal Gems betrayed us," Jasper interrupted. "They valued the organic life there over their own fellow gems and started a war that cost many thousands of gem lives. Their names were wiped from history and the Diamonds forbade anyone from speaking about them." She looked thoughtful for a moment. "We thought they'd all been destroyed. Apparently not."

Abruptly, she jumped to her feet. "So, the plan. I'll get an Emerald Hand authorised while you get another set of advanced limb enhancers. We go to Earth, I take care of the traitors, you do… whatever, your Cluster thing. Understood?"

Peridot blinked, nonplussed. "What, right now?"

Jasper rolled her vision spheres. "Yes, now. Well, as soon as possible," she immediately corrected herself. "It'll take a little time to actually get things moving, but yeah, start getting ready."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tis my belief that the reason the name meant nothing to Peridot is because the Crystal Gems have been wiped from history and their records sealed, and only the most senior war veterans remember them and they're not allowed to talk about it without permission. The Diamonds don't want anyone to get any ideas.


	4. Chapter 4

Getting a new set of limb enhancers took much less time the second time because Peridot's measurements were still on file. When they arrived a few planetary rotations later, she quickly put them on and began running setup checks while watching a recording of Yellow Diamond praising the Quartz troops for their progress on Dulkis.

"-Cost of progress has been high, but we shall-"

The video feed was suddenly interrupted by an incoming alert from Jasper. She sighed in annoyance. She enjoyed watching Yellow Diamond's speeches and recently, it seemed like she never had enough free time to watch her idol at work. Then again, when this mission was over, she had no doubt at all that Yellow Diamond would call for her and praise her in person.

With that happy thought in mind, she reached out and tapped the screen to accept the call. "This is Peridot Facet-2F5L Cut-5XG."

"Hey," Jasper greeted brusquely. "Get down to Facet 13."

Peridot hesitated for a moment. Facet 13 was the prison section and she had no particular desire to ever enter the area. Normally she would just shut up and do as she was told, but Jasper didn't seem to mind when Peridot asked the occasional question, so she decided to push her luck. "Can I ask why?" she said cautiously.

Jasper rolled her eyes. "There's been a development," she explained vaguely. "It could be important."

Peridot opened her mouth to ask more questions, but Jasper had already ended the call. "Well, that was as clear as mud," she muttered. She tapped her screen a few more times to pause the setup checks and then headed out.

Facet 13. She'd never been there before. She knew gems who had been there, of course, everybody knew somebody who'd been there. Peridot Facet-9K5V Cut-4GH had been taken there after that unfortunate incident with the Topaz technicians, and Peridot hadn't seen her since. Sometimes they even came back, like Peridot Facet-1L4D Cut-7RR. They didn't seem to remember much about it though. Peridot suspected the memories were removed alongside the undesirable personality traits.

Jasper was waiting for her when she warped in. "This way," she ordered, and strode down a hallway. Even with her limb enhancers equipped, Peridot had to jog to keep up.

They stopped outside a cell and Jasper indicated that Peridot should look inside. "Here."

Peridot looked at the gem slumped inside and then turned to look at Jasper, confused. "Is that a Lapis Lazuli? Why is she here?"

"That _particular_ Lazuli," Jasper said with a dramatic flourish, "was spotted in our orbit a couple of hours ago and brought in for questioning and it turns out, she used to belong to Blue Diamond's court."

"Blue Diamond's court?" Peridot repeated with disbelief. "But-"

"Blue Diamond hasn't had a court for centuries, right." Jasper nodded at the cell. "Guess where she's been for all those years?"

Peridot didn't need to think too hard about that. "Earth?"

Jasper grinned down at her. "Got it in one. That's why the guards called me." She turned back to look at the prisoner again. "She's been there for a long time. She might have some information we can use. Hey, you!" she barked at a nearby Ruby guard. "Get an interrogation chamber ready and then bring me the Lazuli."

She strode off again, and after one last look back at Lapis Lazuli, Peridot hurried after her.

xXxXx

The interrogation chamber was only slightly less barren than the cells, containing little more than a couple of hover chairs and a destabiliser barrier. Peridot looked around nervously and Jasper sighed heavily. "Could you try to look just a _little_ less terrified? She's the one being questioned, not you."

"Sorry," Peridot muttered. She took a few deep breaths and sat up straighter.

A moment later, Lapis Lazuli entered, flanked by guards and clearly far more terrified than Peridot. She sat down gingerly in a hover chair, half-expecting it to dump her on the floor. Instead, restraints suddenly sprang out, binding her arms and feet and she squeaked in surprise.

"Is that really necessary?" Peridot whispered.

"It's just standard procedure," Jasper said with a shrug. "Right, let's get started!" she declared, making both of the other gems jump. "And let's get straight to the point. Why were you on Earth?"

Lapis scowled. "I already told the other guards-"

"We're not the other guards," Jasper pointed out. "We'd like to hear it ourselves."

Lapis sighed and sagged back in the chair. "Fine. I was a member of Blue Diamond's court during the rebellion. I was sent there for a short visit because of my water powers – Earth's about 70% water and Blue Diamond thought I might be useful." She looked off to the side for a moment before continuing. "We were attacked several times and eventually my form was destroyed and my gem was sealed in a mirror."

"How long-" Peridot began, but Jasper spoke over her.

"How did you escape?"

Lapis shrugged. "They kept me in a Pearl until recently. When they started using the mirror, I was able to convince them to let me out. Then I flew home."

"So how long were you there for?" Peridot quickly asked before Jasper could interrupt her again.

"Long enough," Lapis said with a bitter laugh. "I don't know. Five thousand years?"

There was a moment of stunned silence, then Jasper cleared her throat. "Oooookay. So… moving on. What can you tell us about the Crystal Gems?"

Lapis looked confused for a moment. "Before or after I was captured?"

"Both?" Peridot suggested.

Jasper shook her head. "That's not necessary. Just afterwards is fine. We're interested in their current status."

"Well…" Lapis began hesitantly. "Like I said, they kept me in a Pearl. I didn't see much there. When they let me out, there were only three-well, four of them."

"Let me guess," Jasper said dryly. "A Pearl, an Amethyst and a fusion."

Lapis frowned. "If you already knew that, why are you asking me this? Why can't you let me go home?"

"You don't have a home," Jasper said flatly. "The palace you used to live in hasn't existed for centuries. Let's get back to the subject. Did you see anyone else? Like-"

"The Steven!" Peridot blurted.

"What?" Lapis said sharply.

"What? Jasper echoed in confusion. "No, Rose Quartz! Did you see her at all? Recently, I mean," she clarified as Lapis opened her mouth.

"I haven't seen Rose Quartz in centuries," Lapis said quietly.

"And what about the Steven?" Peridot persisted.

Lapis shook her head. "I don't-I mean, I… he's just a human, I don't know. He's harmless. I don't know."

There was a brief silence, then Peridot spoke again as an idea occurred to her. "Do you know exactly where their base is?"

"Ye-es…" Lapis said cautiously. "Why?"

Peridot turned to Jasper. "I'd like to take her with us, if that's acceptable? I have some idea of where they may be based, but I can't be certain. If she's able to direct us straight to their base of operations, you'll be able to strike before they have time to mount a defence."

Jasper shrugged. "Sure, that sounds logical. I don't fancy wasting more time than I need to look for those traitors."

Lapis's jaw dropped in horror. "But-"

"We'll be leaving shortly," Jasper continued, bringing up a screen and tapping it a few times. "I'll escort you to the ship. Are you ready?" she added to Peridot.

"Uh, nearly," Peridot replied. "I just have to finish setup checks on my limb enhancers."

"Hurry it up and join us as soon as you're done." Jasper closed her screen and stood up just as the Ruby guards re-entered the room. "We'll be in the docking bay in Facet 41."

xXxXx

Setup checks took far longer than Peridot had expected, but she still hadn't expected Jasper to be quite so furious when she warped into the docking bay.

"Where have you been!?" she snarled.

Peridot took a quick step back as the other gem loomed threateningly over her. "T-the setup checks got automatically aborted because I left them too long," she babbled. "I had to start all over again. I sent you a message!"

"Yeah, everyone's sending messages," Jasper grumbled. "Lazuli," she added at Peridot's look of incomprehension. "I left her alone for _one_ _minute_ to check out the ship and caught her trying to send a message to a wailing stone, of all things!"

"A wailing stone?" Peridot was intrigued. "Did it work?"

"We'll have to assume it did," Jasper said.

"Who do you think she was sending it to?"

Jasper gave the other gem a scornful look. "Who in the known colonies would be using a wailing stone, a piece of tech that's thousands of years out of date?"

"The Crystal Gems?" Peridot guessed.

"The Crystal Gems," Jasper confirmed. "And now we've lost the element of surprise. Looks like she wasn't the helpless prisoner she made herself out to be. Well, she is now," she added with a nasty laugh. "Let's get going and find out whether we have an informant or a hostage."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's Laaaaaapis! I actually wrote her backstory before watching 'Same Old World' and thought she'd be there to fight, y'know, because of her epic water powers, so I was a little surprised to find out she wasn't supposed to be there for long. I guess as she was already in the middle of a rebellion, Blue Diamond was very wary of bringing in a usually-harmless gem who would gain God-like powers on our damp little planet.


	5. Chapter 5

"Why are we still here?" Jasper asked two hours later, pacing up and down the bridge behind Peridot.

Peridot sighed with irritation. "I already told you. I can't just walk on board and take off, I have to do preflight checks first. After all, I've never actually flown one of these before," she added, mostly to herself.

Jasper stopped pacing and starred at Peridot. "Wait, what!?"

"Hmm?" Peridot glanced up. "Oh, don't worry, I've been in training simulations loads of time. I almost never crashed," she added proudly.

"Somehow that's not very reassuring," Jasper muttered. She resumed pacing, with slightly more agitation. "Ugh. This is such a slow form of transportation. And we haven't even left Homeworld yet."

"You can blame the Crystal Gems for that," Peridot retorted, flipping a few switches. "They're the ones that broke the warp pad." She frowned at a control panel and tapped it experimentally. "And the kindergarten controls, and the Red Eye, and all my robonoids…" she added under her breath.

Jasper groaned and flopped back into a hover chair. "Are you nearly done yet? Or do I have time for a nice, long, slow walking tour of every colony in our empire?"

"We're ready," Peridot said hastily, flipping a few more switches. "We're cleared for takeoff, I've plotted a course for Earth, and we'll be there… soon."

Jasper frowned at the short pause. "How soon?" she asked warily.

"Uh…" Peridot paused for a moment. "About… seven rotations?"

"Uggghhhhhhhhhh."

xXxXx

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

xXxXx

"Are we there yet?

"NO."

xXxXx

"Are we-"

" _NO_!"

Jasper groaned (again) and threw herself into a hover chair (again). "How much longer is this gonna take?"

Peridot sighed and rubbed her gem, which was beginning to ache. "Six and a half rotations."

"Ugh."

Peridot couldn't quite understand the other gem's boredom. She herself was swamped with work; space was full of debris and constant status checks had to be carried out on the ship to make sure it didn't crash into an asteroid. She'd found a bunch of reports on ancient gem tech that she wanted to read. She had at least fifty videos of Yellow Diamond speeches she wanted to watch. She had to make constant reports detailing their progress. And because she wasn't sure if it was supposed to be her job or not, she was also keeping a constant watch on Lapis Lazuli, although that was fairly uneventful and so far, all she'd done after being questioned was curl up in a corner of her cell. "Don't you have anything you could be doing? Somewhere else?" she added pointedly.

"I'm a soldier, not a pilot," Jasper grumbled, spinning the chair around.

"So check on your prisoner. Check on your weapons."

"I checked on her already. And all the weapons. Twice."

The chair started spinning in the opposite direction, making Peridot feel vaguely nauseous. "I'm taking a break," she said, jumping to her feet. "The ship's on autopilot, but if you want, you can see if you can speed things up a bit." And before Jasper could protest, she sped out of the room.

She hadn't actually had a chance to explore much of the ship, she realised as she wandered around. Obviously she'd looked at the layout on the ship's computer, but actually walking around it was a little different. She peeped into the engine room, powered by a large central crystal, checked out the escape pods, and then, deciding she'd restrained herself for long enough, went to look at Lapis.

The blue gem was still sitting in the corner of her cell when Peridot approached. She looked up nervously, but didn't say anything.

"Hello," Peridot said after a couple of seconds had passed. "Are you comfortable?"

"I'm fine," Lapis muttered.

There was a bit more silence. Peridot fiddled with her touch stumps. "Well… if you need anything…" She trailed off, realising there was no good way to end that sentence. "I should get back to work."

Back in the bridge, Jasper was poking experimentally at the controls. "Hey. I think I'm getting the hang of this. Look, I can turn the ship into a fist!"

"OK, but that's not very aerodynamic," Peridot warned. "It'll add another two rotations to our schedule if you leave it like that."

"Whoops." Jasper quickly stabbed at the controls again. "There. How's that?"

"Now it's obscene."

"Really?" Jasper took another look at the controls and smirked. "OK, that's neat. Can you make it do that when we get there? I'm joking!" she laughed as Peridot's mouth dropped open. "Well, mostly."

"I'll just put it back as it was," Peridot said with a sigh.

There was a short silence.

"Are we there yet?" Jasper asked innocently.

xXxXx

To Peridot's immense relief, Jasper eventually decided to occupy her time by carrying out constant security patrols, which mostly seemed to involve silently pacing up and down in front of Lapis Lazuli's cell and giving her ominous glares. There were still plenty of occasions where she would come into the bridge to see if they were nearly there yet (and on those occasions, Peridot had to seriously fight the urge to slam her head on the control panel and activate an escape pod), but mostly she left the other gem alone to get on with things.

They were nearing the end of the journey when Jasper strode onto the bridge and flung herself into a hover chair. "This is so boring. Why did I volunteer for this?" she muttered to herself. "A Pearl could fly this ship and take out the Crystal Gems. This ship could fly _itself_ and take out the Crystal Gems _._ " She sat up suddenly. "Are we-"

"Yes!" Peridot exclaimed. "We are nearly there! We'll be entering their solar system shortly! I sent you a report saying so just three minutes ago!"

"Did you?" Jasper peered over her shoulder. "I thought it was more boring flight status checks so I ignored it."

Peridot turned slowly to look at her boss. "Do you ignore _all_ my reports?" she asked in disbelief.

Jasper thought for a moment. "Just the boring ones."

Peridot stared at her.

"So yeah, pretty much. I don't know why you bother sending me them anyway," she said defensively. "That stuff's for office gems, I'm not interested. Just do your job and I'll do mine."

"Reports _are_ my job!" Peridot protested. "I'll get in trouble with Yellow Diamond if I don't do them!"

Jasper opened her mouth and then closed it again with a sigh. "OK, fine. Make reports. Just don't expect me to listen to them. I've got better things to do with my time."

"Like what? Glare at Lazuli?" Peridot mumbled under her breath. Then her chair suddenly spun around and she let out a small "eep!" of shock as Jasper loomed over her.

"I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that," the other gem growled. "Mind repeating it for me?"

"It was nothing!" Peridot said hastily. "Just… status checks! See, we've entered their solar system," she added brightly. "Look, Uranus!"

Jasper stared at her for a moment longer and then straightened up. "Start bringing us in. I'll go get Lazuli."

Peridot watched her walk away and then turned back to the controls. Now they were approaching Earth, she was suddenly a little nervous. She knew it was irrational, of course. She was just nervous because Peridot Facet-5Z3P Cut-6YT had told her the mission would be easy and it really, really hadn't been. But everything that had gone wrong was because of the Crystal Gems, she reminded herself. And that was Jasper's job. She was trained for this. She'd destabilise them and lock them up and then Peridot would be free to complete her job in absolute peace.

Maybe if she said it a few more times, she'd believe it.

Jasper returned with Lapis Lazuli just as they passed Jupiter, and dragged the reluctant gem over towards the controls. "All you have to do is point out the location of their base," she was saying. "And then maybe I won't tell Yellow Diamond about that stunt you played before we left." She gave the gem one last push and stepped back, holding a destabiliser ready just in case.

Peridot tapped a few commands and brought up a map of Earth. "It's slightly outdated, but I've overlaid some of the more up-to-date images from the Red Eye and the land masses don't seem to be _too_ different to how they were five thousand years ago."

Lapis glanced at Peridot and shuffled away slightly. Then, realising that brought her back towards Jasper, shuffled back again. She still wasn't sure if the green gem was actually some sort of gem-powered machine, but she was definitely less scary than Jasper. She scanned the map for a moment. "There," she said finally, pointing to the eastern side of a landmass.

Peridot, recognising it as the place where the Red Eye had been destroyed, nodded and began plotting a small course correction. "I'm going to reduce our speed now," she informed the other two gems.

"Oh good, I was hoping this journey could be even longer," Jasper snapped.

Peridot gritted her teeth. She desperately wanted to point out that if they kept up their current speed, they'd crash into the surface of the planet, but she was pretty sure of she did that in front of a prisoner, Jasper would actually crush her face with her bare hands. "Checking shield status," she reported instead.

There was silence in the bridge as they watched the Earth approach.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jasper should've taken a book to space. Which reminds me, you should totally check out my DeviantArt (http://sushigal007.deviantart.com) - Blue brought home a bunch of blank bookmark templates and asked me to make her a Peridot bookmark and we started talking about what kinds of books the gems would read, and suddenly I had lots more bookmarks.


	6. Chapter 6

The Crystal Gems were waiting for them, but Peridot was pleasantly encouraged when their attacks bounced harmlessly off of the ship. She brought the ship in to land, and the three of them went to face their opponents. "That's them, all right," she said to Jasper. "They're the ones who keep breaking my machines."

Jasper didn't look impressed. "This is it?" She glanced over the scene before her. She'd travelled all the way from Homeworld on the slowest ship available for a fight with… well. Disappointing.

"Jasper! They keep interfering with my work!"

"Looks like another waste of my time," Jasper grumbled, stepping forward. "Hey, get over here. Is this their base?"

Lapis pulled her arm free. "Yes," she said quietly, looking away.

The Crystal Gems yelled some boring threats and jumped forward. "And neither of you saw Rose Quartz?" Jasper asked again. "Oh, what a shame. I'd hoped to meet her. I was looking forward to beating her into the ground." She looked at gems before her again, clearly hoping for more. "But this is all that's left of her army? Some lost, defective Pearl, a puny overcooked runt and _this_ shameless display? What is that?" she added, glancing at Steven.

 _You'd know if you bothered looking at any of the reports I made!_ Peridot screamed internally. "It calls itself the Steven," she explained instead.

"He's just a human!" Lapis butted in. "He isn't a threat at all! He's not one of them!"

"I know what a human is," Jasper snapped. "You don't need me for this. Just blast them with the ship." She turned and began walking back towards the ship.

"Ugh, _fine,_ " Peridot grumbled. The Crystal Gems started screeching at each other as the ship began charging up. Part of her wondered why they didn't just run away, but as Jasper was being absolutely no help at all, she wasn't going to complain if they just stood there. "Firing."

Somehow, she wasn't surprised when the Steven managed to block the blast, because this mission was _the worst_. At least it got Jasper's attention.

"That shield! That symbol!" Jasper exclaimed. "You! You have the power of Rose Quartz!"

" _Now_ do you believe I needed an escort?" Peridot said dryly.

"Fire a barrage!" Jasper ordered. "Widespread!"

Peridot did as she was ordered and watched with satisfaction as the ground exploded around the Crystal Gems. When the sand cleared, the Steven was lying alone.

Jasper frowned down at the creature. "Rose, why do you look like this? Why are you so weak?"

"Don't hurt him!" Lapis cried, jumping forward.

Realisation dawned on Jasper's face as she turned to look at her prisoner. "You knew about this!"

"It wasn't relevant to the mission!" Lapis argued.

"Forget about the mission!"

" _What?!"_ Peridot exclaimed, outraged.

"Yellow Diamond needs to see this… thing," Jasper said, gesturing at the Steven.

Suddenly, the fusion burst out of the sand and lunged at Jasper. The resulting shockwave when the two collided pushed back the rest of Crystal Gems, but Peridot didn't dare fire again now her boss had entered the fray. Thankfully, Jasper took care of the fusion swiftly, before headbutting the Steven in the face.

"Surrender, or Rose gets it," she warned as the remaining two Crystal Gems advanced. The Pearl and the Amethyst exchanged despairing looks, and then dropped their weapons, defeated. "Very good. Now, start walking," she ordered, gesturing towards the ship with the gem destabiliser. "Peridot, call up a couple of prison pods for these traitors."

The two Crystal Gems reluctantly did as they were told and were immediately engulfed in individual pods that would take them directly to their cells. Jasper picked up the fusion's gems, tossed the Steven over her shoulder and marched back towards the ship. "Take her back to a cell too while I deal with these two," she called back over shoulder to Peridot. "Then put us in orbit. I don't wanna spend any more time on this soggy ball of mud than I have to."

Peridot pulled a face at Jasper's back, but did as she was told, programming another pod to take Lapis back to her cell. She allowed herself a brief but happy fantasy where Jasper also accidentally-on-purpose wound up in a cell, then remembered that everything was awful and if she didn't pay attention, that would probably happen and then Jasper would drop-kick her into a black hole.

Once they were back in lower Earth orbit, she checked to make sure all the prisoners were safely in their cells. Then she checked again, just in case. That done, she hunted down Jasper, who was looking for a suitable cell for the Ruby. "So, once everyone's safely locked up," she began hopefully. "I-"

"Meet me at Lazuli's cell," Jasper interrupted. "We're going to question her again. She didn't tell us everything about that… _Steven_ thing and I don't want any more surprises."

"OK, and then-" She stopped as an unfamiliar noise reached her. "What's _that?"_

"Ugh, _Sapphire_ ," Jasper griped. "She must have reformed already." She waved Peridot away. "Go. I won't be long. I'm gonna put this one right at the other end of the ship, away from the other one."

Once again, Lapis was curled up in the corner of her cell when Peridot arrived. This time though, Peridot wasn't in the mood for pleasantries. "Stand up," she said irritably. "We need to talk to you again."

Lapis glanced up at her, then sighed and dragged herself slowly to her feet. "What about?" she asked in resignation.

It was such a stupid question, Peridot didn't bother answering it. Jasper joined her a moment later and glared at their prisoner. "What was that?" she snarled.

"What was what?" Lapis said nervously.

Jasper slammed her fist against the wall next to the cell, making both Lapis and Peridot jump violently. "That thing! That Rose-Steven thing! You knew about it and you deliberately withheld that information! You compromised the entire mission! I'll have to report this, you know."

Lapis gulped. "I-I didn't want him to get hurt," she said weakly.

"You sent _him_ the message, didn't you?" Peridot suddenly realised. "The wailing stone one you said you were trying to send to Blue Diamond."

The look on Lapis's face was confirmation that she was right.

"You're no better than _her,_ " Jasper said, sounding disgusted. "Protecting organic life over your own fellow gems. You're nothing but a traitor."

"No, it wasn't like that!" Lapis protested, pressing her hands against the cell barrier for a brief moment before jumping back with a yelp as her hands distorted. "He was the one who let me out of the mirror," she tried to explain. "And… my gem was cracked," she added quietly. "I don't know how, but somehow, he was able to heal it. I wanted to repay him for that, that's why I tried to warn him."

Jasper snorted. "You expect us to believe that load of nonsense?"

"It's true!" Lapis protested. "All I ever wanted was to go home and he made it happen! I don't care about the rest of the Earth, I just didn't want him involved!" She was silent for a moment. "What's going to happen to me?" she whispered fearfully.

"Lucky for you, that's not up to us," Jasper said flatly. "You and the rest of the Crystal traitors are coming back to Homeworld with us, they'll decide what to do with you there. Come on, let's go," she said to Peridot, stomping away angrily. "Looking at her makes me wanna… rrgh!"

Peridot sighed and followed her. "So, now everyone's safely locked up, shall I take a pod down to the kindergarten?" she asked after a few minutes. "I won't be-"

Jasper stopped and spun around and Peridot very nearly collided with her chest. "What are you talking about? We're _going._ You can repair the warp pads when we get back to Homeworld and spend as long as you like rolling in mud, but I'm not spending another _second_ near this oozing, crapsack planet!" She turned and started walking again and Peridot ran after her.

"We can't leave yet!" Peridot protested. "The whole point of coming here was to check on the Cluster!"

Jasper stopped outside the cell occupied by the Sapphire and slammed her fist against the wall again. "Stop singing!" She turned to Peridot and loomed over her. "Rose Quartz takes priority. Get back to the bridge and set a course for Homeworld," she ordered before stomping off down the corridor.

Peridot scowled at her back, frustrated, but did as she was told, grumbling under her breath the whole way back to the bridge. She was _so close_ to being done, Earth was right there, within sight, and now she had to turn around and go home. It was so _unfair!_

Engrossed in her work, she didn't notice anything amiss until the door opened behind her and unfamiliar footsteps caught her attention. She spun around to face the invading gems and grabbed a gem destabiliser from the control panel…

…Which completely failed to work on the Steven.

Unsurprisingly, once deprived of a weapon (she didn't dare use her arm-canon on the bridge), she was swiftly immobilised by the Amethyst. To her horror, the Pearl then tried to take control of the ship. "Don't touch that!" she cried. "You clods don't know what you're doing!"

"You got this, Pearl," the Amethyst said, ignoring Peridot.

She watched helplessly as the Pearl turned the ship back towards Earth. She briefly wondered what had happened to Jasper, then spotted the screen showing her battling the fusion. And it didn't look like the fight was going so well this time.

Suddenly the ship was rocked by an explosion and the Amethyst loosened her grip. Either the fight was causing damage to the ship or the Pearl had done something horribly wrong. Either scenario seemed quite likely and either way, Peridot didn't fancy hanging around. She seized her chance; wriggling clear, she slammed her head onto the floor where the contact with her gem activated an escape pod.

Once inside the pod, it took several valuable seconds to free herself from the Amethyst's whip, time which she really could've used to decelerate. She managed to wriggle free and lunged for the controls, but it was too late; the surface of the planet was approaching far too fast now for the reverse thrusters to make much of a difference, not that it stopped her trying.

Like she'd told Jasper, she'd crashed in simulations before, but none of them had really prepared her for the reality of it (although to be fair, none of them had involved her being tied up during a critical moment). She hadn't had time to raise the shields or activate the protective matrix, so when the pod slammed into the ground, she was knocked senseless.

She had no idea how long she'd been sitting there in a dazed heap, but when she finally recovered her senses, the first thing she did was drag her aching body out onto the ground and scanned the horizon for any sign of the Emerald Hand. _Please be all right,_ she silently prayed to the Diamonds. If the ship recovered its course, that meant Jasper had regained control and would be able to send help-

A moan rose in her throat when she suddenly spotted the smoke rising in the distance. That had to be it. Which meant the Crystal Gems were back on Earth, and there was no chance they hadn't survived. They'd probably captured Jasper and Lapis and now they'd be coming for her…

Filled with blind terror, Peridot turned her back on the escape pod and ran into the nearby vegetation. She had no idea where she was going and she didn't care, so long as it was away from the crash sites and the Crystal Gems. It wasn't until she had run several miles that she began to slow down and start thinking rationally again.

Had she been too hasty in abandoning the escape pod, she wondered? _No_ , she immediately decided. It had never been designed for anything more than immediate escape. It wasn't capable of space flight under its own power. The communications were extremely limited, even more so than the ones in her limb enhancers, and even if it hadn't been damaged in the crash, it was far too conspicuous to use to travel around _this_ planet. Still, she couldn't help wishing she hadn't run away quite so fast. Some of the parts might have been useful. She didn't dare go back now though; for all she knew, they had technology capable of tracking the pod's course and were on their way to crash site right now…

She slowed to a complete halt and turned to look behind her. She'd only been dimly aware of her surroundings in her rush to flee the area, but to her relief, it didn't look as though she'd left any sort of trail in her wake. Still, she would have to be more careful, she didn't want to be caught before… she faltered for a moment. What _was_ she going to do now?

She looked around for a moment, taking in her surroundings. There was nothing in sight except wild, oppressive vegetation. No sign of any human activity (although to be fair, she wasn't sure she'd recognise human activity anyway) and more importantly, no sign of any gem activity. She called up her screen, which locked onto some human database and helpfully informed her that she was standing in something called a 'forest'. Then she spent a good chunk of time trying to find out exactly what a 'forest' was, only to learn that her initial observation of 'wild oppressive vegetation' pretty much summed it up. On the bright side, it probably wouldn't try to kill her, which was a nice change.

Looking around again, she inhaled nervously and brought up her communicator. There was no way she'd be able to use it to contact Homeworld, but maybe she could try getting in touch with Jasper? She felt guilty for leaving her and Lapis on the ship, and even if she wound up revealing her location to the Crystal Gems, knowing they were OK would at least put her mind at rest.

She spoke into the communicator in a hushed tone. "Jasper, this is Peridot Facet-2F5L Cut-5XG reporting in. Are you receiving me?"

There was no response, not even static. Peridot gulped and tried again. "Jasper, this is Peridot. Are you there?"

Nothing. Knowing it was futile, but unwilling to give up just yet, she tried again. "Jasper, where are you? Please!" Her voice cracked slightly. "Is _anybody_ there?"

She listened desperately for a response, but all she could hear was the rustling of the forest. Eventually she gave up, hugged her knees close to herself and started to cry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This bit was surprisingly tough to write, mostly because I was trying very hard to avoid simply repeating everything that happened during The Return/Jailbreak.


	7. Chapter 7

Peridot didn't quite know how long she'd been sitting there, but she eventually became aware of the light changing around her. The Earth had apparently gone around its primary star and in response, creatures had emerged to scream at the sky. The scanner identified them as 'birds' and assured her they were probably harmless, but it also told her they were related to ancient monsters called 'dinosaurs', so clearly it was lying to her. She decided to assume they were hostile, just like everything else on this horrible planet, and that it would be wise to start moving out of the area-

She paused at that thought as realisation dawned over her. She could go to the kindergarten now! Collect the data she'd been sent to collect! Maybe she could even reactivate the remote link and get a message back to Homeworld! She quickly scanned her records again for the data from the Red Eye, found the co-ordinates for the kindergarten and told the scanner to plot a route there.

"Go 200 yards and then turn left," the scanner said smoothly. Peridot started walking.

xXxXx

It took several Earth rotations for Peridot to reach the kindergarten – she'd had to go out of her way to avoid a number of human settlements and her navigation software had promptly responded by sending her 300 miles west and directing her to jump into the ocean. Then after discovering that humans were most active during the daylight hours, she'd switched to doing most of her travelling during the night and hid during the day. Thankfully, the signs of human activity began to dwindle as she got closer and eventually she was able to travel during the daylight hours too.

It didn't take her long to find the elevator once she reached the kindergarten. She stepped onto it and descended into the ground. Everything was in darkness, which wasn't a great sign, but she tried to remain hopeful, even when she stepped into the Prime control room and her gem lit up the mess the Crystal Gems had made of the place. She calmly began removing the shattered manual controls from the remains of the power source, which she examined very carefully, eleven times, before reluctantly concluding that it was far too damaged for her to fix. There was definitely no way she'd be able to use it to contact Homeworld, although once she thought about it, she realised it probably wouldn't have worked anyway – the remote link could only be activated from Homeworld, it had never been designed to work the other way around. She wasn't even sure if she'd be able to get the Cluster data out of it, but she was certainly going to _try._

She absently chewed on a touch stump for a moment, deep in thought, and slowly, an idea began to take shape in her head. There was supposed to be a backup power source around somewhere and while it wouldn't be enough to get the communications systems up and running, she might at least be able to access the computer records.

For a long time, she didn't think it would work, but after several hours of tinkering, the monitor flickered and lines of data began to fill the screen. She quickly tapped a few more buttons and watched in delight as the data was copied to her own computers.

"Yes!" she hissed happily. _Finally_ , something was going right!

Once the file transfer was complete, she backed up her current logs, severed the connection and sat down to sort through the information she'd gathered. Much of it was either corrupt or junk, but after several more hours of searching, she finally found what she was looking for.

The Cluster files.

She scanned them quickly to try and work out the general gist of the project. She'd never been told exactly what the Cluster was, simply that it was a fusion experiment. And she'd never had much experience of fusion herself – it was a battle tactic reserved strictly for warrior gems, and use of fusion outside combat was strictly forbidden, something the unfortunate Topaz technicians had found out (an entirely useless lesson, she realised, when you consider that they'd been shattered shortly afterwards).

After a few minutes of reading, she learned that the Cluster was a collection of fallen gem shards, forcibly fused together. It was a fascinating idea – fallen gems were used for many things on Homeworld, but she hadn't heard of them being used as a weapon. It made sense, in a way – why risk sending valuable, loyal warriors into danger when you had something like that? She remembered Yellow Diamond's moving speech about the gems who'd fallen during the Dulkis takeover and wondered if this was why she'd been sent for this mission. Why, this information could save thousands of lives!

She carried on poking through the files, looking for status reports as she'd been ordered, and stumbled upon reports of minor fusion experiments encased in the walls that were apparently close to emerging. Well, she thought, if she was supposed to check on the Cluster, she should probably take a look at them too before making a log update.

She removed the panels from the walls and examined the cylinders inside closely, comparing the results to the reports. Yes, everything seemed to be progressing as expected. In fact, several of them looked close to-

Almost as soon as the thought entered her mind, one of the cylinders crumbled and… _something_ emerged.

"Ah," Peridot said, taking a quick step backwards. "OK. That's… that's good."

The tangled mess of limbs crawled towards her and she took another hurried step backwards and tried to remember how to activate her arm cannon. "Actually," she said, backing away further, "there's not a lot of light here. I should finish up outside."

The fusion experiments were far behind her by the time she reached the elevator, and she was feeling much calmer. Adopting a professional tone, she began to make her log. "Log date 6 5 2", she began, calling up her screen. "This is Peridot, updating status." A note of annoyance crept into her voice. "Still stuck on this miserable planet…"

 _Unprofessional,_ she chided herself. She forced herself to assume a more neutral tone as she carried on. "The fusion experiments are developing properly. A few have even emerged early-yeargh!"

The Steven was watching her.

For a few seconds, all she could do was stare at it. It made no move towards her, for which she was thankful, mostly because she _still_ couldn't remember how to use her arm cannon. Then again, when she thought about it, other than grabbing her gem destabiliser on the ship, the Steven had never really been very threatening towards her.

The _rest_ of the Crystal Gems, on the other hand…

She glanced quickly and lowered her voice. "Are… _the other ones_ … with you?"

The creature's face went through a variety of expressions before it finally nodded guiltily at her, then shrugged.

Peridot sighed and dismissed her touchscreen. "Of course!" she exclaimed sarcastically. "Why not?" Why not indeed? Something had gone right for her today, obviously that meant the universe had to go and ruin it. She was going to call this phenomena 'Peridot's Law', she decided. Assuming she survived this. Something that was looking increasingly unlikely, she realised, as the Crystal Gems charged towards her, the fusion right at the front. Clearly they meant business.

Knowing full well she stood no chance against a fusion, she let out a small squeak of terror and ran away. As the Crystal Gems chased after her, a small plan began to take shape in her mind and she changed direction slightly so that she was heading directly towards one of sheer cliffs. Obviously believing they had her cornered, the Crystal Gems began to whoop triumphantly, right up until the moment when Peridot began running _up_ the wall.

"Hey! I can't do that!" she heard the Steven whine.

"Neither can _she!"_ the Pearl replied.

There was a whistling noise behind her and Peridot ducked the spear that went sailing harmlessly over her head. "Ha! Missed!" she gloated, taking a moment to observe the frustrated faces of her assailants.

When she turned back, an injector drill was heading straight for her. She screamed, spun around and fled back down the wall, but gravity is a harsh mistress, and the drill crashed into her. They both hit the ground, throwing up dirt and rubble, but Peridot was relieved to find herself relatively unharmed. She crawled out of the wreckage and tried to run again, but a whip curled around her torso, forcing her to a halt. She scowled at the Amethyst, remembering how the horrible thing had hindered her escape from the ship, and jabbed a finger at the whip, sending an electrical current back towards the other gem.

"Whoa! Hot whip!" The Amethyst let go of the weapon and then growled as Peridot immediately freed herself and began running again.

"You Crystal Clods!" she jeered over her shoulder. "Go ahead! Wreck this place, see if I care! I already got what I needed!"

"Get back here!" the Pearl yelled, and Peridot almost laughed. Yeah, like she was really going to do _that!_ Still, she wasn't going to shake them off on the ground. They'd catch her eventually. What she needed was another method of transportation...

She glanced down at her hand as inspiration struck. The fingers began to whirl and she was pulled up into the air and this time, there was nothing they could drop on her. She began to laugh triumphantly as the Crystal Gems yelled and ran, and flew off over the most inhospitable terrain she could find.

xXxXx

Peridot had lost the Crystal Gems several hours ago, but she continued to fly on, passing forests, mountains and human habitations, wanting to put as much distance as possible between herself and the hostile gems. The elation she'd felt at escaping had long since died down and now she just wanted to find some place quiet and secluded while it was still light, where she could update her log, continue sorting through the files she'd collected, and plan her next move.

She spotted a body of water up ahead and decided to land and check her navigational software before going any further – she wasn't sure of the exact limitations of her flight features and she didn't want to crash into one of Earth's oceans. Water didn't exist on Homeworld, but she'd read reports about it, and it sounded like an extremely reactive chemical in all its forms and she had no idea if it would affect her limb enhancers.

Once she was back on solid ground, she called up her screen and tried to work out where she was. The navigational software refused to cooperate at first, insisting she was standing in the middle of a human settlement, before it begrudgingly admitted that she was at the edge of the Atlantic. She couldn't detect any human dwellings nearby, and the nearest functional warp pad was at least three hours away. There was no way the Crystal Gems would be able to sneak up on her again.

Still, she would feel better if she could find some sort of hiding place. She poked a few more buttons on her screen and scanned the immediate area for someplace to shelter. Her screen suggested a few nearby caves and although many of them were either unstable or waterlogged, she eventually settled down in a dry, spacious cave a little way from the water's edge and called up her log again.

"Log date 6 5 3," she began. "Despite being ambushed by the Crystal Clods, I was able to successfully retrieve the Cluster records from the Prime Kindergarten Control Room." She paused for a moment to think. "I… I have had no luck contacting Jasper or Lazuli. I haven't seen Lazuli with the Crystal Gems either, I can only assume she has fled the planet, or they have both been taken prisoner. Therefore my next step will be to find some method of contacting Homeworld in order to arrange a retrieval taskforce." She bit her lip. "Uh, that's all, I guess. Peridot out."

She gazed towards the cave mouth for a moment, deep in thought. _How_ was she going to contact Homeworld though? The kindergarten had been her best shot, but there was no way she could go back there now. She chewed on a touch stump for a moment, then sighed and brought her screen back up. While she was thinking, she might as well go back to reading the files. After all, she still hadn't found out the current status of the Cluster and having that information handy would make it much easier to negotiate a rescue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you ever wonder what all that screaming was about back in Chapter 2? I did want to have a scene where it was clearly established that a bunch of Topaz techs had fused to fight a Peridot who was tormenting them, but it didn't fit anywhere, so now all you get are some vague hints about their sinister disappearance. Because of course, Peridot wouldn't question it. Common gems vanish on Homeworld all the time… especially the ones who get a bit too curious.


	8. Chapter 8

There were a lot of files to go through. It took Peridot several Earth rotations to clean, sort and read them all. Once she was finished, she dismissed her screen and stared into space for a moment.

Then she quietly curled into a small ball and contemplated just not moving. Ever again.

The problem with that plan, of course, was that she didn't need to move for the Cluster to kill her.

She groaned and closed her eyes. She didn't want to think about it. If she ignored it, maybe it would go away. Then she let out a small snort of laughter because seriously, when had that _ever_ worked for her? No, she was going to have to accept that if she stayed on Earth much longer, the Cluster would kill her, unless the Crystal Gems got there first.

Oooh, or maybe Homeworld would notice they were missing? She frowned for a moment, then sighed. She wanted to believe that Homeworld was wondering why no more reports were being sent and investigate, but they knew the Red Eye and the robonoids and the newly-repaired warp pads had all been destroyed, so if Homeworld assumed the ship and it's occupants had been destroyed too, they might just decide to stay well away and let the Cluster finish off the Crystal Gems.

No, she needed to contact Homeworld and let them know she was alive. Then they'd _have_ to send a rescue ship. She sat up again and began to drum her touch stumps on her knee. It was doubtful that human technology would be capable of transmitting a signal that far – she'd intercepted some weird, weak signals on the edges of the galaxy, but nothing beyond that. What she needed was gem technology. There had to be _something_ on this planet, even if it was ancient and-

_A wailing stone!_

She could almost hear a light ping on in her mind. Of course, a wailing stone would work! She brought up her screen, touch stumps falling over one another in her haste, and scanned the planet for the antiquated gem tech. Then her face fell. Every wailing stone on the planet was being held in a single location, and even a Ruby would be able to work out where that was.

"Ugggghhh," she groaned and flopped back onto the sandy floor of the cave. There had to be _something_ here! Anything! In desperation, she pulled up the images from the Red Eye and flicked through them.

She was in such a state of panic, she actually scrolled through them three times before she recognised the communication hub. Hope flared in her chest, hot and painful. She zoomed in and examined the image carefully. It seemed to be mostly intact, but the warp pad nearby was a cause for worry. What if the Crystal Gems had anticipated this move and destroyed the place too?

Well, she wouldn't know until she checked.

She stood up shakily, brushed sand from her form, carefully walked to the mouth of the cave and flew away.

xXxXx

"You have now arrived at your destination."

Peridot turned in a slow circle and then scowled at her navigational software. "This is a field. I checked. Humans use it to grow crops. The nearest warp pad is still two facets over and you are a LIAR."

"Turn left."

"You just said-" She raised her arms skyward in surrender. "Fine. Left it is."

"After three hundred yards, bear left."

"You keep saying that," she muttered, taking off again. "And yet I never see any bears."

After a few more wrong turns, Peridot finally disconnected her navigational system from the Earth database it had locked on to and found an old Earth map from which she could manually plot a route.

When she arrived at the communication hub, she almost gave up on the spot. The site was wrecked, rubble littering the ground in every direction she could see. Even the warp pad was smashed. But on closer examination, she realised the damage was actually quite superficial. If she repaired that column, and moved that bit of rubble, and used it to prop up that other bit there…

It might just work.

Of course, it was a very crude way to send a message. She'd have to send it on all frequencies to make sure it got through and she had no way to encrypt it, so every single receiver on the planet would pick it up. The Crystal Gems would see it and when they did, they'd come straight here and _properly_ smash the place up. She'd get one shot, then she'd have to run.

She quickly composed a message on her touch screen so she wouldn't accidentally leave any prudent information out, then, taking a deep breath to compose herself, she powered up the hub and began to speak. She managed to stay calm throughout most of her speech, although she could hear the panic creep into her voice towards the end.

Then, with no other real destination in mind, she began to fly back towards the cave she'd been sheltering in. The communication hub was just a speck in the distance when she heard the distant rumble of its destruction.

xXxXx

For the next few Earth rotations, all she did was reread reports to see if there was any possibility that the Cluster wouldn't kill her, and try to reach Jasper on her communicator. She was unsuccessful on both counts.

Eventually she gave up trying to distract herself and went back to staring into space while trying to calculate how long it would take a ship to come and collect her. _If_ a ship came to collect her. Maybe she'd made a mistake saying Jasper was gone? Jasper was much more important than a lowly Peridot, even one who'd been personally chosen by Yellow Diamond. Maybe if she'd been able to assure them Jasper was alive and well, they'd be more likely to send help?

The most frustrating thing was the knowledge that there had been a quick, direct way back to Homeworld and the Crystal Gems had destroyed it. Then she thought about the communication hub again and considered things for a moment. She'd been able to repair that, despite the damage, was there any chance at all that she'd be able to repair the Homeworld warp pad?

She quickly pulled up the Red Eye images again, although by this point, she'd studied them so much, she could see them with her eyes closed. The warp hub was in the middle of one of Earth's oceans, further than she'd ever flown before. She still wasn't sure if her helicopter fingers _could_ fly that far, and she didn't quite fancy the idea of them failing and dumping her into the water. No, she'd have to make that three-hour trek to the nearest warp pad and warp there.

xXxXx

She could immediately tell that the Homeworld warp pad was in far worse shape than the communication hub had been, but she gritted her teeth and refused to give up until she'd had a more thorough look. It was a shame none of her robonoids were around; even deactivated, they would've been useful. Clearly the cloddy Crystal Gems had disposed of them. She began moving the rubble out of the way, grumbling under her breath as she worked.

She'd been there less than a minute when the domestic pad suddenly activated, startling her. Of course, the Crystal Gems. Surely this couldn't be a coincidence. That was just too much bad luck, even for her.

"Oh, aha! Look!" the Pearl cried, pointing at her with a spear. "I was right! My plan worked perfectly!"

"Good mornin'!" the Steven greeted, purely to annoy her.

"What? How did you know I was here?" she asked, not remotely expecting an actual answer. She was half right, as the Steven explained that they'd found a way to track her, although he wouldn't say how, and then pulled some grotesque face at her. So, not a coincidence then.

"Peridot!" the fusion yelled. "We're here to-"

"And you'll never get away with this!" the Pearl interrupted with a dramatic flourish.

"Don't you gems have anything better to do than annoy me!?"

It was a rhetorical question, but the Amethyst still grinned and replied, "nope! We're gonna-"

"Prepare to be annoyed!" the Pearl interrupted again.

Peridot groaned. "I don't have time for this!" she complained as she raised her arm cannon, silently thanking the Diamonds that she'd made an effort to find out how it worked after her last run-in with the Crystal Clods. "This planet has an expiration date, and I'm not gonna stick around to find out when!"

She fired. Unfortunately, the recoil took her completely by surprise, the shot went off target and hit a pillar, and the next thing she knew, she was flat on her back, looking at the sky. She sat up carefully and chuckled nervously as the Crystal Gems (alas, unharmed) all glared back at her. "Uh…"

"That's it, I'm taking her out."

The Pearl charged towards her and Peridot did the only thing she could think of and activated the tractor beam she'd been using to move some of the larger bits of debris. To her delight, it worked perfectly and the Pearl was immobilised. "Sorry, but you're going the wrong way!" she mocked, and flung the helpless gem back towards her companions, where she collided with the Steven.

"Get her!" the fusion ordered, preoccupied with holding back the debris from the pillar.

The Amethyst immediately charged at her, but Peridot saw the attack coming and dodged easily, scuttling away on her touch stumps. "Hahahaha, you missed!" she taunted, and hopped onto another warp pad. Unfortunately, that one was broken too. "Argh! Doesn't _anything_ work on this cruddy planet!?"

"I do!"

"Huh?" She glanced up momentarily and yelped as the shield hit her in the face. She'd forgotten about the Steven, she realised belatedly. She wouldn't make that mistake again-

A chunk of broken pillar slammed into the warp pad she was on and sent her flying through the air with a scream. After a moment of disorientation, she managed to activate her helicopter and quickly pulled her knees to her chest as she realised she was hovering directly above the fusion and the Pearl, who'd apparently collided with each other. She landed on the domestic warp pad and looked back at the two gems. The Pearl was really making a mess of things, she realised. "Wow, this is just _sad,_ " she commented with amusement. "I almost feel sorry for you." Then she copied the Steven's taunt as she warped away.

xXxXx

She was still smiling when she arrived at her destination, but the smile slid off her face as she thought back to the fight. She'd escaped, but for how long? The Crystal Gems could now track her whenever she used a warp pad (although hopefully they were too busy falling over each other to track her this time), which meant she couldn't return to the warp hub any time soon.

She _needed_ to go back there. The other broken pads had given her an idea: she didn't necessarily have to get the Homeworld warp pad working, just one that would get her off this planet. It didn't really matter where they led, so long as it was someplace Not Here.

 _Speaking of here…_ she stepped off the warp pad and looked across the hill to the wreckage of the ancient gem ship opposite. Even from here, she could tell there was no way she'd be able to get it working, even if she _wasn't_ being relentlessly hunted across a doomed planet.

But… maybe she could get _bits_ of it working.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only one chapter left to go!


	9. Chapter 9

The first thing she did was work out all the possible exits. She was tired of all her escape routes crumbling around her, this time, if (Diamond forbid) something went wrong, she wanted to get out, fast. If the Crystal Gems hadn't been trying to kill her before, they definitely would if they survived this. She was tired of running away. This time, she was going to attack first, annihilate the traitorous clods and then she'd have a little bit of peace and quiet while she worked out how to _go home._

For a brief moment, she almost felt bad that she was planning to lure them into a death trap. Then she remembered that they'd destroyed all her stuff, probably either captured or killed her escort and maybe her informant, and attacked her on multiple occasions. With a _fusion._ So clearly they meant to kill her too. Plus the Cluster would kill them all when it emerged anyway. She was almost doing them a favour by killing them first!

She'd make it quick, if she could; she wasn't interested in torture… and if she gave them time, they'd only use it to escape. She examined the control panel carefully. The power wasn't working, but that wasn't a problem – a quick zap of energy from her limb enhancers took care of that easily enough. It was far older than anything she'd ever worked with before, and she wasn't quite sure what all the various buttons actually did, but after a bit of cautious poking, she was able to take a look at the ship's security features.

"Good, good…" she muttered under her breath. The lasers and spikes were laughably primitive in comparison to the destabiliser fields that were used these days, but still lethal enough to pose a danger to the Crystal Gems if one of them were unlucky enough to get hit. Which probably wouldn't happen, not with the Steven's shielding abilities, but that was fine, she wasn't expecting _that_ to kill them. That's what the pulverisation chamber was for. And a remote hologram was just the thing to lure them there.

As soon as all the traps were set up, she walked back to the warp pad, took a deep breath and warped back to the same spot. Then she sprinted back to the ship. She was going to be ready when the Crystal Gems arrived.

xXxXx

For several glorious minutes, it looked like her plan had worked. There'd been an uncertain moment when the controls had stopped responding, but another zap of energy had done the trick and as planned, after fleeing the lasers and spikes, the Crystal Gems had run after her hologram and fallen into the chamber.

Unfortunately, the second jolt of energy seemed to have overloaded the control panel and she'd lost the visual connection before she could be sure her enemies had been destroyed. And after seeing the Pearl aim straight for the hologram's gem, she _really_ wanted to be sure. She stabbed at the control panel with increasing irritation. "Urrgh, stupid button here, I don't know what anything is!" She let out a frustrated growl as the ship's map distorted with static, and half-thought about just giving the controls a thump, before sensibly opting for more button mashing. "Where'd they go? Why isn't anything _working!?"_

The wall suddenly exploded inwardly and she spun around with a squeak, back to the controls, as the Crystal Gems appeared. "Surrender, Peridot!" the fusion ordered. "You have nowhere to run!"

"The Crystal Gems are gonna get yooou!" the Steven added.

"You really think this is the end?" Peridot laughed derisively and pointed her arm cannon at them. "This - this is only the beginning… of my escape!" And with that, she suddenly aimed her cannon upwards and blasted through the ceiling, mentally congratulating herself for being smart enough to come up with a back-up plan. As the Crystal Gems ducked the flying shrapnel, she began to fly away. "Well, I'd love to stick around and watch another one of your pathetic attempts to capture me, but I guess I'm just too smart for the likes of you lumpy, clumpy clods!"

She began to laugh again, then stopped as her upward flight abruptly juddered to a halt. "What the-" She looked down in shock to see the Steven had somehow managed to leap up and grab her gravity connector.

"I caught a Peridot!" it sang.

"Hey! Get your touch stumps off me, you _Steven!"_ she demanded, kicking her leg to try and dislodge it. All that happened was that the Steven sank its teeth into her. "Hey!"

"Yeah, Steven!" exclaimed the Amethyst, jumping up and holding onto it.

"Don't let her go," the Pearl added, throwing herself onto the chain of gems. She was then grabbed by the fusion.

"Rrrrgh!" Peridot growled, enraged. This wasn't supposed to happen! "Let go of me!" She reached down and began flicking the creature in the face. "You… you persistent… little… whatever exactly you are!"

"Peridot!" the fusion called, grabbing her attention. "Your flight's been cancelled!"

"Noooo…" Peridot moaned. A sinking feeling came over her as she realised there was only one way out of this, and before she could allow herself to dwell upon it, she reached down and hit the release button on her lower limb enhancers, leaving the Steven with her foot section while the recoil sent her spinning through the air. "You'll pay for this, Crystal Gems!" she yelled furiously at their rapidly-retreating forms. "I'll get you back, just you waaaait!"

xXxXx

She didn't stop flying. She no longer cared about the risk of crashing into the ocean and maybe melting her limb enhancers, she was officially out of ideas. The warp hub was her last hope and if that meant she had to _swim_ there, then so be it. She'd already lost a foot, she wasn't going to hang around and wait for the Crystal Gems to capture her, piece by piece. Deep down, she knew it was a pointless endeavour; she already knew that the Crystal Gems had smashed every single offworld hub long before she'd ever been assigned this mission, but she was still determined to try.

To her relief, she made it to the warp hub without any further incident. Then she landed and promptly fell over, having forgotten for a moment that her foot was missing. She growled to herself, pulled herself upright and limped over to the nearest warp pad.

Inactive.

The next one was inactive too.

And the next.

All inactive.

She even tried the Mondas one, despite knowing full well that the planet itself had exploded several years ago. She'd vaguely hoped maybe the connecting pad was just sort of… floating through space or something, but even _that_ warp pad had been smashed.

For a moment, she scanned the site again in case a warp pad had somehow repaired itself while she wasn't looking, then with a scream of frustration, she lobbed a chunk of debris at a random pad.

Then, thinking better of it, she caught it with her tractor beam before it could cause any further damage and carefully placed it to one side. Then she flopped onto her back with a sigh and stared up at the sky. Earth was turning away from its primary star and more distant stars were becoming visible as the sky darkened. Stars and planets and galaxies and all manner of celestial bodies, all just out of her reach.

If only she had flight powers, like Lapis Lazuli! Then she could just fly…

Peridot froze and stared at the sky for a moment longer, then raised a hand and gazed at that instead. She _had_ flight powers! It wasn't exactly water wings, but despite her earlier misgivings, she'd found no limitations. Was there any chance she could do what Lazuli had done? Just… fly home?

It was hardly the worst idea she'd ever had; that dubious honour went to "accepting this cloddy mission in the first place", closely followed by "getting on a spaceship with Jasper".

Impulsively, she jumped upright, stumbled again and took off into the sky.

She'd previously avoided flying at high altitudes – she'd seen the human flying machines crossing the skies on many occasions and been wary of being spotted and attacked by them. She had also been cautious of the clouds of gaseous water vapour hanging in the air. But right now, those dangers paled in comparison to the Cluster and the Crystal Gems. Still, she was careful to fly around the clumps of vapour, rather than through them.

The air grew cooler as she rose higher, and as she watched the Earth shrink beneath her, hope began to bubble up inside her. It was working! She was going to go home! And when she got there, she was going to send help for Jasper (and maybe Lazuli, assuming she hadn't flown off into space somewhere), and watch the Cluster _destroy_ this horrible place! She didn't even care how much she got punished for this mess, she was going home and her idea was really, truly, actually working-

Suddenly she was aware of a strange, grinding noise and realised her ascent seemed to be slowing. She dragged her gaze away from the shimmering waves below, and looked up at her touch stumps. To her horror, she realised water crystals were solidifying around them. The spinning appendages were cutting through the ice, but they were getting rapidly clogged up with every passing second. Then, as she watched, they ground to a halt.

For a moment, she hung suspended in the air.

"No…" she whimpered.

Then she started falling.

Falling down was faster than flying up, yet somehow it seemed to take twice as long. In her attempt to avoid the vapour, she'd wound up back over the coastline and at the back of her mind, behind the immediate screaming and terror, she morbidly wondered whether she'd prefer to hit the ground or the water. The impact would destroy her physical form, either way, but maybe the water would cushion and hide her gem from her enemies? Of course, it was just as likely that her gem would turn out to be one that reacted badly with water and she'd become corroded and corrupted before she could regenerate.

She was 100 metres above the ground when she remembered her other hand was _also_ capable of flight.

Raising the other hand aloft, she activated the helicopter, which slowed down her descent, but also unfortunately resulted in her spinning wildly out of control. Everywhere she looked, there was sky and sea and stars and sand and she closed her eyes for a moment, completely disorientated.

"Oof!"

She slammed into a hard surface and bounced off, winded, and opened her eyes just in time to crash into the cliff again. She halted her flight and allowed herself to drop the last few metres to the ground, where she curled up into a ball for a while.

"Bad idea," she muttered to herself, once she'd calmed down enough to actually speak without sobbing. " _Awful_ idea."

And worst of all, now she had _no_ ideas. None. Not a single one. Everything she'd tried had failed and now, unless one of the warp pads _magically healed itself,_ she was going to die. Maybe today, maybe tomorrow-

_Magically healed._

_"_ _My gem was cracked. I don't know how, but somehow, he was able to heal it."_

She gasped and sat upright. Maybe she wasn't out of ideas after all.

The Steven was going to help her go home.

-FIN-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's all! Because of course, after this point, Peridot becomes a (reluctant) member of the team and all her action takes place with the Crystal Gems. Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this.
> 
> Oh, and before I forget, Mondas is the original planet the Cybermen came from in the First Doctor story, 'The Tenth Planet'. If you haven't seen it, well, I'm very sorry about the spoiler, but it has been almost 50 years!


End file.
